Great post. I have one too. The touch is unbelievable -- it is almost like an electric, it's that effortless. Does yours have a carbon ribbon assembly? (Not sure if they were factory standard or an option...) Mine does and I'm having difficulty figuring out how to get it to work. You can sort of fit an old IBM Model C/D type carbon ribbon in there (if you remove about 1/8 inch from the outer diameter) but the spool itself doesn't quite fit. It looks like Hermes had some sort of proprietary spool with 3 little prongs which, obviously, don't fit into the IBM core. I'm looking for actual vintage Hermes carbon ribbons (and/or spools) and/or copies of an owner's manual, so that I can see what the spool looked like and how it was threaded. If you have any insight (or photos to share) I'd be very appreciative.

Thank you!I also have an Ambassador, but I'm almost afraid to use it. It came to me as "new old stock" - still in the shipping crate, complete with cover, manual and other "extras." I doubt it has typed more than a dozen pages....

Some differences from yours: No spools for carbon ribbon, but it has an extra wide carriage (over 18 inches). Also, my manual is in German, and the keyboard layout is QWERTZ. Clearly not a machine intended for the American market.

But one of these days it and I are going to churn out one heckofa spy novel!